We want to alert you to a higher than normal increase in spam email activity. Researchers who track this activity recently reported a massive spike in spam delivering the Locky (and other) ransomware with up to 120,000 spam emails going out per hour. This is roughly 200 times the usual number.

In one campaign the subject line only contained “Fw:” with a zip file attached named xls.convert_recipientname_randomnumber.zip. The body had a note insinuating that the attachment was a requested invoice. If opened the attachment would download a Jscript file and execute Ransomware.

Other campaigns had “Profile” in the subject line and a zip attachment labeled recipientname_profile_randomnumber.zip, or had the subjects “Security Breach – Security Report #123456789” with attachments such as “info12.doc” or “i_nf012.doc,” these again contained Ransomware.

Please share this with your staff and be extra vigilant when reviewing email. If in doubt at all simply delete the email. Let us know if you have any additional questions.